Laina Farhat-Holzman's political views are highly unusual and quixotic. Some months back, I got sucked into one of her little soirees at the Aptos library. She was holding forth as the "League of University Women" to a group of mostly rapt senior citizens. They seemed to be in the middle of some organized study program; the atmosphere was almost cult-like. Her technique is to introduce some topic with an ackowledgement of a popularly-held liberal or centrist position and procede to explain why a reactionary, pro-corporate position is correct - all done in the most condescending of mannerisms. It is all wrapped in half-truths and completely devoid of moral sensibility. Her positions are all over the map, politically, from almost centrist in some cases to hardcore Neo-Con in others. She is one of the most ardent pro-corporate, pro-imperialist apologists around.

I remember that when I walked out on her she stopped her lecture long enough to ask me to use "the back door" rather than the side exit I had already opened - Ha!

Just look at the bullshit in her piece above. The Right can't make up it's mind about "nation building" - good in Afganistan and Iraq, bad in Kosovo. Join the Army and "do something good in the world"? What happened to the Peace Corps? Better not have a wedding party if you are in Afganistan! Over 10,000 civilian dead to date in our latest imperial adventures - a sign of our benevolence? U.S. troops are now in over 100 countries.

Remember what happened to Rome when it got overextended.

Has Laina Farhat-Holzman ever heard of the "School of the Americas" in GA, where "bonds forged between and among military officers" led to the practice of torture, rape, murder, and terrorism throughout a continent? I've met a woman who was kidnapped and tortured by the Argentine military.

She says that skills acquired in the military can be transferred to civilian life - Ha! Let me see -

• One roommate was in the Marines and spent a year watching a red light on a console. Then he was trained as a tank mechanic - guess what? No job on exit!
• Another was in "Army Intelligence." Helped decide who would get assasinated. Exited with no job and tropical diseases.
• Another friend was in Intelligence. Horribly burned when they were burning classified docs as VC overran them. No job - retrained himself.
• What civilian jobs are there for trained killers? That is what we produce - and they ARE good at that job!

Not ONE of our oligarchy (Senate and House) have a single son or daughter in active service! Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Laina Farhat-Holzman.